Orange Winter Salad

As I mentioned in last week’s butternut squash soup post, I am partial to this winter salad to serve alongside almost any warm soup. It’s wonderfully wintery and one I created from a variety of sources. Citrus is widely available and always tastes refreshing this time of year, and the salad mix I find at my winter farmers market is assertive and bold – lots of arugula, baby red and green lettuces, baby soft kale…a nice balance.

You could switch the chopped toasted pecans to toasted pine nuts or even toasted walnuts or almonds-or toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds. The crumbled feta can be changed to crumbled goat cheese . You’ll see in the picture that I added sliced kiwi instead of avocado since my avocado was missing in action. (Confession – I mashed it into a sandwich yesterday and needed to use the kiwi anyway). I’ve even used dried cherries or yellow raisins in place of oranges!

I’ve been hooked on this salad for the past few weeks. Once spring arrives and there are more fruit and vegetable choices, I’ll branch out and post some other yummy combinations and salad dressings.

I must say that salad and soups are probably two of my favorite things to prepare. Not too much measuring, an easy interplay of textures and flavors and colors and healthful to boot!

Orange Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

1/3 cup orange marmalade

1/3 cup sherry vinegar

1 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

¼ cup olive oil

½ tsp salt and 10 grinds pepper

½ tsp grated lime zest (if you have it)

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp of honey (you can omit this depending on your palate)

Instructions:

Whisk everything together except the olive oil – drizzle this in at the end. OR – I actually put everything including the olive oil together and use my immersion blender (Cuisinart makes a great model) to emulsify the dressing. Put in a jar and keep refrigerated for up to a week. Bring to room temperature before using.

Winter Salad

Ingredients:

2 oranges, peeled with a knife down to the orange itself, and sliced into rounds

2 medium avocados, peeled and diced into ½ inch pieces

Instructions:

Reserve six slices of orange and about ½ cup of avocado. Combine everything else in a large salad bowl. Toss lightly with the salad dressing, being careful not to over do. Put in salad bowls or plates and place some fresh orange slices and avocado on top to garnish.

I always put the dressing in the bottom of my wooden salad bowl, then add the greens and toss which uses a lot less dressing.